How can we respond to those who would say pornography helps them prepare for marriage?

Full Question

How can we respond to those who would say pornography helps them prepare for marriage, helps their marriage, or provides a better outlet than alternatives like premarital sex or adultery?

Answer

All of these represent flawed thinking. Pornography does not help one prepare for marriage. It trains users’ affections to a fantasy world that is not the same as marriage. In marriage spouses must respect and love their partners—not expect them to be a means of instant sexual gratification.

Within marriage pornography trains the user’s affections away from his spouse, making it harder rather than easier to achieve sexual satisfaction and a genuinely loving experience.

We might think that pornography is less of an evil than premarital sex or adultery. But although fantasizing about murder is not as bad as actual murder, it’s still wrong.

A person cannot justify the use of pornography, or any evil, by arguing that it is less evil than something else. Evil must be opposed, period.